September 9, 2019:
"It just doesn't get any better," reports Capt. Greg Dubrule from the Black Hawk. "The Montauk-Block Island area is simply loaded, providing red-hot action at the rails. Satisfied customers have jumbo sea bass and monster porgies, with an assortment of fluke, trigger fish, bluefish, mackerel and even a few striped bass mixed-in. Check out our website or Facebook and get the straight scoop, right from the wheel house; no "sugar coated reports" here. Don't forget, we're sailing daily at 7:00 AM, weather permitting, until December 31st. So plan your fall trip or charter accordingly.
Tuesday was the CT Charter Party Boat Association's Promotional Fishing Tournament "Fishing with Fisch", to raise funds for the Hometown Foundation, including Special Olympics and breast cancer research. The blockbuster event involved most of the party and charter boats in the CCPBA, along with many corporate and local sponsors. A great afternoon, with perfect weather and wonderful fishing was had by all. Hundreds of participants and boat crews gathered afterwards for food and prizes. A smashing, successful event that will hopefully get bigger every year.
Hurricane Dorian put the scare in everyone as the weekend approached. Capt. Matt got Friday's trip in by fishing the protected Watch Hill area with calm conditions in spite of stiff Northeast winds that kept everyone else tied to the dock. Saturday's trip was a different story and unfortunately was cancelled as high winds Friday night and early Saturday morning made every boat cancel trips. As of this report, Capt. Matt is currently out on Sunday's trip and as of mid-day that fishing is excellent, with many customers approaching their limits on jumbo sea bass.
Heather from the office reports that we continue to fish daily at 7am. Our last Sunset Seal Watch was postponed due to Dorian, so we'll be heading out this Saturday night instead. Come join us! We're getting loads of calls for our night striped bass trips; we know you're excited to get back out there! We will be posting trips soon, and at this time it looks like we'll be heading out around the 3rd4th week in September. Stay tuned for the exact dates and times. Get your bass bucktails and eels ready! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!"

Previous Reports

Capt. Greg of the Black Hawk reports that, "The porgy and sea bass fishing still remains nothing short of excellent. The for-hire bonus season (September - October, 50 porgies and 7 sea bass per person) makes it even more attractive. Now's the time to come fishing! On our all-day trips we're fishing the MontaukBlock Island areas; coolers are filled, limits are met, and people are happy. We've even had some triggerfish, fluke, and a handful of bluefish on these bottom fishing trips. Our half-day weekend trips came to a close this Labor Day weekend. These trips had been fishing in the local areas where there is very good porgy fishing; not the sizes of where we go on the all-day trips, and not nearly as many sea bass, but still providing excellent half-day fishing. From now on, all of our trips will be our full-day trips. Our After Work Special trips, on Thursday and Friday afternoons, have been fishing for blues and bass. We've had a variety of blues both big and small, a lot of short striped bass and handful of sea bass hitting the diamond jigs. Our last After Work Special will be Friday, September 6, so plan on joining us! A lot of people have been asking about night bass trips. We haven't done them in August because historically it's been a slow month. However, we have every intention of adding more for September and October so stay tuned.
Heather from the office reminds everyone that our schedule is now one trip daily leaving at 7am. We'll try to have 1-2 days a week be bluefishing, and the others will be bottom fishing. Stay tuned to our website and Facebook page for details on these trips. Our last seal watch of the summer is this Saturday, September 7. We're looking forward to another great night raising funds for some great organizations. As always, check our website and Facebook page for updates, reports, and more. We look forward to seeing everyone for some fantastic fall fishing!"

Capt. Greg from the Black Hawk reports that, "It was another excellent week of weather which has provided simply sensational fishing on the all-day trips, leaving at 7 am, for monster sea bass and jumbo porgies. The Montauk-Block Island areas are still the place to be with full limits on both species, a few fluke, codfish, and short striped bass added to the mix. If you're thinking of filling the freezer, now's the time and the Black Hawk is your boat. On the weekend half-day trips, we've been fishing in the local Watch Hill areas. Again, we've had excellent fishing on mostly medium and large porgies, with only a handful of keeper sea bass. Capt. Matt reports the bluefishing in the Race has greatly improved, providing a lot of action in the Thursday and Friday After-Work Special 4 pm trips. These trips are by reservation only and limited to only 30 fishermen. The blues have been on the large size, providing tackle-busting action. If you want to receive sore muscles, these are your trips! An assortment of sub-legal striped bass are climbing on the diamonds as well but not much on the keeper variety. When conditions and time permits, Capt. Matt has been doing some bottom fishing on the scup and sea bass on some of these trips besides. Still tremendous amounts of bait around the entire area; quite a few big mackerel being caught on all the trips. Thresher sharks are seen quite a bit on the surface while traveling. One actually came up and chased a porgy out of the customer's hands last week. Capt. Matt had one in in the Race the other night, along with other boats. Quite a number of threshers around.
Heather reports that we had another very successful seal watch last week, with a sold out crowd helping to raise money for several non-profit organizations. We'll have our final seal watch of the season on September 7, and tickets are going fast, so be sure to grab yours soon! We also had a beautiful sunset cruise last Saturday night, our final one of the summer. We look forward to more of these great trips next year! We continue to fish daily, at 7am Monday-Friday and two trips on the weekends. Our schedule will change slightly after Labor Day. On Tuesday, September 3, we'll have a half-day trip go out at 6am so we can be in in time to head out for the "Fish with Fisch" CCPBA fishing tournament. We're looking forward to a great day! Then, starting on September 4, we will sail every day at 7am. We have a few After Work Special trips left, and we'll be adding some night trips soon, so stay tuned. We look forward to seeing everyone soon."

"It was another tremendous week of bottom fishing," reports Capt. Greg of the Black Hawk. "The Montauk and Block Island areas are producing larger sea bass and porgies with an occasional fluke. It seems the local areas along Fisher's Island and Watch Hill are just loaded with smaller porgies with a handful of keeper sea bass. Smaller in size but fantastic quantities. You can almost drop a piece of clam, sandworm or squid anywhere and catch one. Bluefishing still remains spotty with certain tides and certain areas producing a limited amount of fish. We're still hoping that it improves although time is running out.
Heather from the office reports some good news for Capt. Greg. As an active member in the Marine Trades Association, Capt Greg played in their annual golf tournament last Thursday. The tournament was played at River Ridge golf course and the Black Hawk not only won with a low score of 58, but Capt. Greg made a hole in one! He was even luckier when he found that the hole had a prize attached, and Capt Greg won a brand new 2019 Subaru Forester from Reynolds Subaru in Lyme. Congrats, Greg!
We continue to fish daily at 7am during the week and at 6am and 1pm on the weekends. Our schedule will change slightly after Labor Day, so be sure to check the website for updates. We have a few dates left for charters at the end of August and early September, but they're going fast, so if you'd like to get your group out there, be sure to contact us now. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!"

Simply red hot fishing on the sea bass and jumbo porgies reports Capt. Greg at the Black Hawk. Customers are having no problem filling their coolers with their limits, with a few shots at fluke too – mostly shorts but the occasional keeper to 5 pounds.
"Action has been fast and furious," is the word we got from Capt. Greg, adding "The half day trips on the weekends we've been fishing the Watch Hill areas where the porgy fishing has been very good. Not quite the size at Montauk but still plenty action with an occasional sea bass."
He said the Race and adjacent areas has been exceptionally quiet, calling the lack of consistent bluefish "disturbing".
Bottom fishing is adequate during times when the tides aren't screaming but nowhere like the size, numbers and consistency of the fishing in the MontaukBlock Island areas. "We're all hoping it improves soon since there's a huge fishing population out there anxiously waiting to diamond jig these bluefish on all the local boats. Time will tell I guess," he said.